NGPF Blog

THE PROBLEM: Does NGPF have any resources that utilize spreadsheets? If so, where do I find them?
THE ANSWER: Watch this short video for a treasure trove of resources, activities, and just-in-time how-to videos for spreadsheets in the Next Gen Personal Finance catalog.
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Hat tip to Joy Tavano of North Kingstown High School (RI) who shared this resource in a recent PLC with Jessica. The site, rentdata.org, has detailed information about average rents in every county in the U.S. and better yet provides the information on a historical basis back to 2006. Given that housing costs are typically the largest cost component in a budget, this interactive provides students with a sense of the cost of living in their community. For students who consider moving to...

In this weekly blog post, the Curriculum team will highlight Just One Resource from our NGPF collection that maybe doesn't get the attention it deserves. Use it this week or bookmark it for later.
[The Resource] INTERACTIVE: Shady Sam
The Gist: Students play loan shark in this engaging game where they see loans from the perspective of a lender as they try to maximize their profits.
The Best Parts:
Students decide between three loan options for...

In this weekly blog post, the Curriculum team will highlight Just One Resource from our NGPF collection that maybe doesn't get the attention it deserves. Use it this week or bookmark it for later.
[The Resource] ANALYZE: How America Gives
The Gist: Using The Chronicle of Philanthropy site, students will explore American financial charitable giving throughout the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas. Combining data from the Internal Revenue...

Chart courtesy of Statista:
Questions:
Why do you think there is such a difference in the minimum wage rates by state?
What is the minimum wage in your state? Is it different in your area?
What do you think determines minimum wage levels in a given market (city, town, county)?
Analyzing this chart, what would you guess the federal minimum wage is?
Describe the typical worker that earns the minimum wage (education level, age, experience, type of job, industry)?
What do...

Interesting chart showing the linkages among users of social media platforms (from Pew Research); great data table to build analytical and critical thinking skills using a topic that engages your students:
Note: Reciprocity between websites refers to the percentage of users of one site using another website. In the chart above, 27% of Facebook users also use WhatsApp (which curiously is owned by Facebook).
Questions:
Which two social media sites have the strongest linkage (or...

Investing
Bringing you lots of relevant articles on investing this week, from current events (stock market drop this week and interest rate increases) to analysis of booms, busts, and advice.
Wednesday’s market drop as explained by the New York Times.
Here is an article from 2016 by Ron Lieber (NYT) that came up in my feed but is timeless advice relating to this week’s market movement.
Neil Irwin explains in his Upshot article (NYT) the upside of rising interest rates.
This one from...

From Simple Dollar Blog:
We all struggle with how to make retirement interesting to high school students who tend to be short-term oriented. You can use this chart to ask the question "How soon can YOU get to financial independence?"
First, let me provide some orientation:
X-axis tracks after-tax annual income
Y-axis has annual spending
Number inside the grid are years until financial independence
For example, a recent college grad with after-tax pay of $35k ($35,000) who spends $20k...

I thought this would be an interesting question and interactive to get your personal finance class off to a great start this year. It takes a step back from talking about money and forces students to think about what they value most when it comes to life. It will also allow them to 1) see what countries match up best with their definition of a better life 2) see how their answers compare with others in the U.S. and 3) have them think about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the U.S....

Andy Davidson spent much of his career on Wall Street and saw first-hand what happens when consumers lack basic financial skills. What he saw inspired him to create a course that teaches personal finance through mathematics. And thus, FiCycle was born! Hear how he describes the rationale behind the three pillars of his curriculum, the importance of scaffolding and what this entrepreneur has learned along the way. Listen closely as Andy espouses the virtues of bringing more math into your...

Hat tip to the Wealth of Common Sense blog for updating their performance charts which help demonstrate a key concept in investing: risk. Risk is one of those nebulous concepts for teens who have never experienced a severe market correction while holding stocks. These charts help elucidate risk from a mathematical perspective by plotting returns for the three basic asset classes: cash, bonds and stocks. By using the same scale for each, it becomes more apparent which is the riskiest asset. ...

The Hamilton Project released another engaging interactive, Where Work Pays [Hat tip to Brian Page for pointing this out].
Here's how it works....
a) Students select an occupation
b) Input an age group
c) Adjust for Cost of living and/or Income Taxes (optional)
d) Toggle between Local or States which will affect the map view.
So, why do I love this interactive. It brings together so many concepts in one activity, including
Career choice (what do you think you want...

In this new weekly blog post, Jessica will highlight Just One Resource from our NGPF collection that maybe doesn't get the attention it deserves. Use it this week or bookmark it for later.
[The Resource] NUMBER CHUG: Break Even with Soap
The Gist: In this scenario, "April's" caught the entrepreneurial spirit and is handmaking soaps to sell for profit. Over the course of this seven-question Number Chug, students learn about revenue, cost,...

Maggie Roble’s students at Centennial High School in Corona, California asked relentlessly why there was no class on practical, financial math they could use outside of classroom. She decided to change things for the better and built a math class from the ground up that would provide her students with those "real-life" skills. She clearly built something the students love? Since the program’s inception just two years ago, she has increased the number of students in her program from...

The Scoop
Last month, Edsource and The National Council for Teachers in Mathematics (NCTM) published an article making the case that high school math instruction needs an overhaul.
In the piece, the NCTM calls for math course offerings that allow students to be “prepared to use math to understand the world around them and [have] an appreciation for the important role math plays in society.”
NCTM President Matt Larson goes on, “we hope students will come to understand the beauty...

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